Shaftesbury Abbey was founded by King Alfred circa 888 AD. The royal connection continued throughout the almost 700 years of its history until the Abbey was surrendered to the Crown on 23rd March, 1539. King Edgar died in July 975, leaving two sons by different mothers Edward who was in his teens and Aethelred who was still a child. Edward was crowned king but Aethelred was not without his supporters. On 18th March, 978 King Edward was murdered at Corfe Castle, allegedly at the instigation of his stepmother, and his half brother Aethelred crowned in his place. Edward's body was buried at Wareham but the following year it was moved with great ceremony to Shaftesbury. Miracles, particularly involving the curing of the blind, were attributed to Edward after his death and he was canonised in 100 I. In the same year King Aethelred bestowed upon the Abbess of Shaftesbury the Monastery and Vill (ie the manor) of Bradford 'for a recompence of the murderinge of St Edward his brother'. The charter is still in existence and can be found among the Harlean Manuscripts in the British Museum. It tells us that Aethelred gave the Monastry and Vill 'that therein might be found a safe refuge for the nuns against the insults of the Danes, and a hiding place also for the relics of the blessed martyr St Edward and the rest of the saints.
The Anglo-Saxons marked their boundaries clearly with trees, whether pears or willows. The local tradition is that the Abbess of Shaftesbury marked the boundaries of the Manor of of Bradford with seven pear trees, on the site of which she later built a chapel. This tradition has been continued at St Mary's for many years and some people refer lovingly to the church as a 'pear tree church' .The latest pear tree, donated by Mrs Mary King, is to be found in the north west comer of the churchyard by the memorial to J oan and Terry Snailum. Notes by Martin Valatin in a Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust Newsletter recording that' At the last Millennium in 1001, the Abbess of Shaftesbury planted seven pear trees to mark the boundaries of her land at Bradford, soon followed by the seven churches' caused enormous excitement until, that is, he disclosed the source of his information was St Mary's Church guide!
The charter is very explicit as to the limits of the Manor of Bradford: 'First from the seven pear trees that shoots southward without Acceslegle farm ...' This word has been corrupted by degrees and is now believed to be Oxen Leaze Farm, in Holt Tything at the eastern extremity of the Parish of Bradford on Rev. W. H. Jones' map (below). Recent scholarship suggests that the trees were probably withies, ie willows, as withies were common boundary markers in Anglo-Saxon land charters. The original grant included Westwood and Wingfield but they are not recorded in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Abbess of Shaftesbury.